It's not the end result, but rather the journey that matters most!
Learning the Art of Game Programming

Monday, March 30, 2009

Monthy Checkup

It's been a whopping two weeks since I started this blog, but it's also the end of the month, which means it's checkup time! At the end of each month, I will review my incomplete goals and determine how I'm progressing toward becoming a Game Developer. You may recall some of the following from my Inspiration post and I've added a few new goals too.

Create a finished game.I'm still in the process of learning Direct3D and playing with various techniques. SkyCop is a wide-open testbed for experimentation, but once I feel more confident in my skills I will design a smaller-scale game that I can actually finish. I've read numerous articles stressing the importance of showing potential employers you can create a finished product.

Use personal projects to test different rendering techniques and programming methods.Check! See the SkyCop reference above.

Continue learning and be competent enough to explain design decisions.I've exponentially ramped up my reading of game development blogs and articles on major sites like GameDev.net and Gamasutra. I want to get another book or two to learn technical/design concepts; I've heard Game Coding Complete is a good reference.

Start networking!I've started participating in the Game Career Guide forum; they have a bunch of bright and friendly people willing to help newcomers to the scene, and I'm hoping I will be able to contribute positively to the community. I'm also learning about different game development conferences and considering a trip to GDC next year or possibly attending SIEGE this year.

Play more games!I love playing video games, and remember the thrill of playing multiplayer Quake 2 and Unreal Tournament back in the day. It's hard to find the time these days, but in order to understand modern game concepts I really should buy a new game. That's my rationalization, anyway ;)

Dave Ramsey, creator of Financial Peace University and an awesome motivational speaker, says "If you wanna be rich, you gotta do rich people stuff." Likewise, if you wanna be a Game Developer, you gotta do Game Developer stuff! I found these testimonies of actual developers/designers working in the field to be quite interesting. They're a good reminder that there's more than one way to break into the games industry, and I know that I can do it!